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The other night for dinner I decided to use the left-over pizza dough I made last week and make some calzones. The pizza dough is similar to my normal one using mostly type 00 Caputo flour mixed with about 10% whole wheat. I ran out of Caputo so I actually used around 20% Caputo along with some AP flour, potato flour and whole wheat and I added some Asiago cheese just for the fun of it.

The dough actually made some great pizza and was still nice and extensible after sitting in the freezer for a week.

I made some turkey meatballs using ground turkey, Panko Chili bread crumbs, greek yogurt, dried oregano, onions, fresh chopped garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and a couple of eggs. I browned them on all sides in a large pan and covered them for a few minutes at the end to make sure they were cooked through. Lastly I glazed them with some good balsamic vinegar and let it create a nice caramelized crust on the meatballs.

For the stuffing in the calzones I used the meatballs, fresh ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella and a little Asiago.

Spring is finally here so along with grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and steak it was time to crank up the grill and make some pizza.

My pizza set-up allows me to get the temperature over 700 degrees. I’m not sure how hot is really get since my thermometer only goes to 700 degrees so I would say it’s probably closer to 800 or higher.

I made a basic dough recipe using instant yeast this time since I didn’t have time to make the starter version I made last time and I used mainly type 00 Caputo flour along with a little bit of freshly ground whole wheat. For the basic recipe you can refer to my previous post here.

I made 3 different personal size pies this time with the first being a simple version using fresh tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and some shaved Parmesan. Unfortunately my wife ate most of it before I had a chance to photograph it, so no pictures.

The second pie was made using my wife’s left-over meat sauce along with some fresh mozzarella and shaved Parmesan.

The third and last pie of the night was a white pie which we used a garlic butter spread, caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella and shaved Parmesan.

All three came out great with a nice charred crust just like I like it. They were so good we ate all of them except one slice.

I’ve been wanting to try the Ken Forkish style pizza dough ever since David Snyder on TFL posted about his great love for this formula and procedure here. David changed some of the timing in the recipe to achieve the ultimate results. I followed his directions pretty closely with the only thing I changed being I used my mixer on low speed for the initial mix and used some fresh milled white hard wheat flour in place of the WW he used.

I must say this was a very easy dough to shape and was fun to use and tasted great. I will definitely use this one in the future.

I usually use my Pizza Kettle set-up on my Weber grill but since it’s been way too cold and snowy outside to grill anything I baked them in my oven using this method http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil. The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone. I have to say it worked perfectly so give it a try!

I made 2 pizzas the first day with one being a fresh tomato and mozzarella marinated in balsamic vinegar with caramelized onions. The second pizza was fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce and home made turkey meatballs.

The second day I made some calzones using ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella, caramelized onions, baked cheesy chicken and parmesan cheese. I must say the calzones dough ended up very sour compared to the pizza the nigh before, but tasted great.

There are not too many things I like more than a pastrami sandwich, so when my wife suggested I try using some left over pastrami on a pizza I figured it was worth a shot. I also had some left over smoked pulled pork in the refrigerator so I figured I would make a barbecued pulled pork pizza as well

I recently was gifted a cool item called the “Kettle Pizza” attachment. This item fits on top of an existing Weber kettle style grill and allows you to get your grill over 700 degrees which is ideal for pizza. I have used this a few times with some great success and was looking forward to trying it again. I have been reading many posts about using 00 style flour and how it really only works best when you can get your heat source over 700 degrees so while I could have used a 100% “00” flour pizza I still decided to do a 50-50 blend with bread flour. If you don’t have any “00” flour you can use 100% bread flour or another low protein flour. The “00” flour does require less water so if you use it make sure to watch your hydration. I suggest you add 50% of the water in the recipe before adding more and adjust as needed.

For the Pastrami pizza I used a simple fresh tomato sauce consisting of 1 can of diced tomatoes with red peppers, salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano, basil, 1/2 of a lemon and a dash of red wine vinegar. I also used fresh mozzarella along with some Munster cheese and Pastrami for the topping.

For the Pulled Pork pizza I used my home-made barbecue sauce along with fresh mozzarella.

I adapted a recipe from Peter Reinhart’sArtisan Baking Everyday for the basic dough. I have made this recipe several times and it is very simple and comes out great.

If you want to make this in your oven you certainly get great results as well.

I have tried the method suggested by Steve B. at http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil. The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone. I have to say it worked perfectly in the past for me so give it a try!

If you don’t have the Kettle Pizza attachment for your grill you can still put a pizza stone on your grill and end up with a successful pizza. The biggest issue is trying to get the desired char effect on the crust.

I have to say both pizzas came out great and I would definitely try both of these combinations again. Maybe next time I would put some carmelized onions on the Pulled Pork version.

Combine all the ingredients in your mixing bowl and mix on the lowest speed possible for 1 minute. The dough should be rough and a little sticky. Let it rest for 5 minutes so the flour gets fully hydrated.

Knead the dough on medium low-speed (or by hand) for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough is smoother. Next put some olive oil on your work surface and your hands and transfer the dough to your work area. Do a stretch and fold and form the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 5 pieces weighing about 8 ounces each and form into balls. Spray the inside of a mini plastic storage bag with oil and seal each dough ball in the bags. Put them in your refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days. You can freeze them also for several months if desired.

About 90 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizzas take how many dough balls you plan on using out of the fridge and put them on your lightly oiled work surface. Stretch the dough balls and reshape them into a tight ball. Cover the dough balls with either plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or a clean lint free kitchen towel sprayed with some water and let them rest until you are ready to bake.

One hour before you are ready to bake pre-heat your oven or grill to the highest temperature and put your pizza stone on the highest shelf possible in your oven.

Prepare your favorite sauce and get your cheese and toppings ready. Remember, that more is less. Don’t use too much cheese or sauce or you will end up with a soggy mess.

Put some bench flour in a bowl and dip each dough ball in the flour as well as your hands. Flatten the ball of dough on the work surface with your hands first and if desired either use a rolling-pin or pick the dough ball up and using both hands start stretching it out using your thumbs and the back of your knuckles. Your thumbs should actually be doing all the stretching and not your knuckles. you want dough to be fairly thin, but not too thin or it will end up ripping.

If cooking on the Kettle Grill set-up be sure to have your pizzas ready to go as you want to get your additional pizzas in as soon as possible after the first one is done. In order to get the heat so high you must use a bed of coals with wood chunks or small logs and you want to cook your pizza before the temperature gets too low.

If using your oven, turn your oven on broil 10 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizza and get the stone as hot as possible. Assemble your pie and brush some olive oil on the crust if desired. You can either sprinkle corn meal or flour on your bakers peel and place the pizza on your peel before putting the topping on it. Alternatively you can put your pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper and slide the peel underneath when ready to put in the oven. The worse thing that can happen is for your dough to get stuck on your peel and make a mess in your oven, not to mention ruin all your good efforts.

Make sure you turn the oven off broil before you put the pie inside and turn it back to your highest setting. Let the pizza cook until the crust is blistering and the bottom is nice and brown.

If using the Kettle Grill attachment, you want to bake the pizza turning it a couple of times with your peel until the bottom and top crust is nice and charred.

I hope you give this recipe a try yourselves. It is actually fun to make and relatively easy.

It’s been a while since I made my own pizza so I figured it was time to make a go of it again. I have been reading many posts about using 00 style flour and how it really only works best when you can get your heat source over 700 degrees. I don’t have the ability to do that just yet, so I decided to combine 50% Italian Style Flour from KAF and 50% KAF Bread Flour and see what happens.

I adapted a recipe from Peter Reinhart’sArtisan Baking Everyday and after a couple of days with the dough balls resting comfortably in my refrigerator I decided to bake a couple of pizzas for lunch this past weekend.

I recently read another blog by Steve B. at http://www.breadcetera.com where he suggested to put your pizza stone on the highest shelf of your oven and set your oven to broil. The purpose of this is to get as much heat as possible to be retained by the stone. I have to say it worked perfectly so give it a try!

I decided to add some pepperoni and some parmesan cheese to add some extra flavor and I do have to say I was very happy with the end results. My wife did complain that one of the pies was a little soggy which was due to my putting too much sauce on the pie, but I ate it all anyway!

Heres the recipe:

Ingredients

12 ounces Italian Style (00) Flour

12 ounces Bread Flour

2 teaspoons salt (sea salt or table salt)

1 teaspoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

17 ounces water (90 degrees)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in your mixing bowl and mix on the lowest speed possible for 1 minute. The dough should be rough and a little sticky. Let it rest for 5 minutes so the flour gets fully hydrated.

Knead the dough on medium low-speed (or by hand) for 2 to 3 minutes until the dough is smoother. Next put some olive oil on your work surface and your hands and transfer the dough to your work area. Do a stretch and fold and form the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 5 pieces weighing about 8 ounces each and form into balls. Spray the inside of a mini plastic storage bag with oil and seal each dough ball in the bags. Put them in your refrigerator overnight or up to 4 days. You can freeze them also for several months if desired.

About 90 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizzas take how many dough balls you plan on using out of the fridge and put them on your lightly oiled work surface. Stretch the dough balls and reshape them into a tight ball. Cover the dough balls with either plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray or a clean lint free kitchen towel sprayed with some water and let them rest until you are ready to bake.

One hour before you are ready to bake pre-heat your oven to the highest temperature and put your pizza stone on the highest shelf possible in your oven.

Prepare your favorite sauce and get your cheese and toppings ready. I used a simple fresh tomato sauce consisting of 1 can of diced tomatoes with red peppers, salt, freshly ground pepper, oregano, basil, 1/2 of a lemon and a dash of red wine vinegar. I also used fresh mozzarella, grated parmesan and pepperoni.

Put some bench flour in a bowl and dip each dough ball in the flour as well as your hands. Flatten the ball of dough on the work surface with your hands first and if desired either use a rolling-pin or pick the dough ball up and using both hands start stretching it out using your thumbs and the back of your knuckles. Your thumbs should actually be doing all the stretching and not your knuckles. you want dough to be fairly thin, but not too thin or it will end up ripping.

Turn your oven on broil 10 minutes before you are ready to bake your pizza and get the stone as hot as possible. Assemble your pie and brush some olive oil on the crust if desired. You can either sprinkle corn meal or flour on your bakers peel and place the pizza on your peel before putting the topping on it. Alternatively you can put your pizza dough on a piece of parchment paper and slide the peel underneath when ready to put in the oven. The worse thing that can happen is for your dough to get stuck on your peel and make a mess in your oven, not to mention ruin all your good efforts.

Make sure you turn the oven off broil before you put the pie inside and turn it back to your highest setting. Let the pizza cook until the crust is blistering and the bottom is nice and brown.

I strongly advise not to put too much sauce on this style of dough or you will end up with a soggy mess. Less is actually more in most cases of making a good pizza.

This dough is also excellent for making calzones which I did a few days later. I added some grilled chicken, mozzarella, ricotta cheese mixed with basil, oregano and garlic salt and parmesan cheese inside and baked at 400 degrees for around 25 minutes. Just make sure you use a little water to seal the dough and cut some air slits on the top so the dough doesn’t built up too much pressure.

I hope you give this recipe a try yourselves. It is actually fun to make and relatively easy.